Login   |   Register   |   
Photos of Wigan
Photos of Wigan



Wigan Album

Parbold

16 Comments

Delph Tea Gardens Parbold
Delph Tea Gardens Parbold
Photo: dk
Views: 6,998
Item #: 5486
Delph Tea Gardens Parbold c1953 - I have been able to find out next to nothing about Delph Tea Gardens - does anyone remember anything?

Comment by: vernon fewtrell on 31st December 2010 at 17:21

Went there about 1953 with my parents who used to go there on Sunday school trips from Birkdale around 1934. It was all closed up in 1953 when I was there with my sister Jill and parents William and Amelia Fewtrell

Comment by: Ernest Savage on 13th February 2011 at 09:18

When we moved to Parbold in 1950 and for quite a few years after that it attracted huge numbers of visitors who came by train, coach and even doubledeck buses from the nearby towns. Families relaxed under the trees, played football on the open field in the area above the eponymous quarry or hired rowing boats on the lake. On quieter days many people fished in the same lake. The ending of petrol rationing and increasing wealth meant that people could travel further afield, but I do not believe it closed as early as 1953. On weekdays it was always very quiet.
It was a marvellous place for kids to explore and play imaginative games; its sale for building was a great loss to the village

Comment by: frank on 10th December 2011 at 15:52

I went there in about 1962 I guess with my mother who remembered it from her childhood.It was pretty quiet but then it was a weekday(my father was at work).There were two lads fishing in the lake,I was obsessed with fishing so would remember that.Ithink it may have been on its last legs by then.

Comment by: Alan Rothwell on 13th March 2012 at 16:54

More than 60 years ago I remember visiting Delph Tea Gardens. I lived in Birkdale but attended St Phillips primary school in Southport. My mother insisted that I also attended St Phillips Sunday school and I remeber going to Delph Tea Gardens, I think twice, by coach on the Sunday School outing. In later years, when I used to take part in cycle trials up Parbold Hill, I remember seeing it had closed although I am not sure which year that was.

Comment by: Peter on 17th June 2013 at 18:42

From about 1955 to 1961 I used to stay each summer for a week with my aunt who lived in Parbold (Station Road half way between the station and the canal).

We would go to the Tea Gardens which was up the hill at the end of the road at the junction with the main road. I remember it as being wooded with lawns with few actual facilities but you could buy tea, ice cream etc. I am pretty sure there was no entrance charge.

I think there was a lake there as my uncle fished and sometimes went there.

I do not remember the name Delph but I asked my sister (older than me) and she remembered it.

Comment by: Christine on 7th November 2015 at 20:58

I remember going to Delph Tea Gardens with my mum and dad in the early 50's, I remember boats on the lake, the lawns and trees. I was really disappointed when they closed. I've no idea who owned the area, pity it was a lovely recreational facility.

Comment by: frank goodwill on 10th March 2016 at 19:38

I used to go to the Delph Tea Gardens at the top of Hilldale Parbold in the 1950s with my mates Collin Ashcroft,Geoff Norburn.John Hardman and others.Weused to go on the boats on the small lake,I think it was 6d for 15 minutes,we also used to go conkering in the same area.Very happy memories.We all lived between Appley Bridge and Dagerous Corner at Wrightington and walked there and back about two miles.

Comment by: Christine Marshall on 11th February 2017 at 19:31

I remember visiting the Tea Gardens with my parents as a child so I'm sure they didn't close in 1953 as I would only have been 3. There were boats on the lake you could hire and picnic on the grass. I loved going there and was very sad when they closed - no reason ever given. I would say they closed in the mid-50's.

Comment by: Ruth Hurst (née Hankin) on 7th March 2018 at 23:31

My Grandparents Lauretta and Joseph Percival owned the Delph Tea Gardens before the 1929 Great Depression.
They moved there from Manchester with 10 children. Five girls and five boys. It was at the top of the Common.

The intention was that they would open the tea rooms and have boats on on the lake there. They lived in the two big houses and the tea room was also in those houses. The boys helped to run the boating lake. The idea was that families from near by towns and villages would spend enjoyable days there.

My mother and her sister met and married two local boys. My father‘s father ran the local “ open all hours “ shop near the station.
Unfortunately when the great depression came my grandfather went bankrupt and there’s a sad story of them all leaving the Delph Tea Gardens on horses and carts with all their belongings. The relationship with my grandfather and grandmother was never the same again. She was very angry with him for his hairbrain idea.

As a child I was often driven there in the 40s and 50s with my parents and my mother explained where everything they did happened. I do remember two quite rundown looking large houses and of course the lake and it was very pretty wooded area. But unfortunately there was never much activity there even then.I don’t know who bought it after my grandparents left.

Comment by: Alan Southworth on 28th June 2020 at 10:50

I used to go to rage Delphi tea gardens quite often a a youngster. From what I can recall a Mr. Shepherd was the owner at the time. H ran the boating lake along with the shop selling ice cream, sweets as well looking after the boating lake. Down in the Delphi there were 2 quite large wooden sheds. One I think at the time was for storage but the other one directly facing as you walked to the far end of the Delphi was the tea rooms. Quite busy in the holiday seasons. I also do remember dances took place but was not old enough to attend. On the very large field people gathered for picknics on good days. Children playing games etc. On one occasion I remember Parbold Young Farmers having meetings on the field. They had various activities such as tractor driving courses etc. Including reversing with a trailer along a course set out with straw bales. Not just sure but I tend to remember it was a sort of time trial activity. That would have been between Parbold Young Farmers and possibly Mawdesley or even on of the other Young Farmers from local villages. I do remember The Delphi was if I am not mistaken Still being open when I was around 14/15 years old and that would have been 1959/60 but sure it closed around that time. I d tend to remember that Mr Shephard died around that time. In later years I worked for Mr Shepherds daughter who had a bungalow and a house in the Delphi and I worked on the bungalow as a sub contractor to the builder who was Mr. Jimmy Lamb from Hilldale. A good builder he was also. My part was the complete retire of the original building and also the electrical on the new extension. When the house next door was sold I also did the complete retire for a scotch man but cannot remember his name. He at the time worked for The Skelmersdale Development Cooperation. That was the start of the development of Skelmersdale new town. Many happy days spent at the Delphi Tea Gardens. I do wish I had photos but I do have the memories of all the happy times

Comment by: Ray Thaw on 12th August 2023 at 19:06

Lots of info BUT is there an actual location for The Delph Tea Rooms. I now live in Parbold and am quite interested in local history. I know The Delph and the Houses off Stoney Lane. TIA.

Comment by: Marlene Finch on 28th December 2023 at 19:27

We were brought up in the Common and The Delph Tea gardens was our playground. At weekends we collected the discarded bottles left by visitors and took them to the tuck shop overlooking the lake to get the pennies back so we could either buy sweets or take the rowing boat round the lake. I used to train my dog on the field there - he was very friendly with Phylis, Mr Shepherds daughter and would race across the field to greet her. I learnt to climb on a rock opposite the tea room (last time I visited it it was covered in ivy and looked somewhat smaller than it did to me as a child. I graduated to climbing up the rock bank behind the tea rooms (there are houses there now). Fortunately mother never witnessed my climbing skills. We
made do with a rope over the bough of a tree for swings. Ours was an idyllic childhood made up of a simpler and more natural entertainment.

Comment by: Colin Traynor on 29th December 2023 at 11:46

I don't remember the Delph Tea Gardens at it's best but in the 1980's I climbed through a gap in a wall down Stony Lane Parbold. Remnants of the old Tea Gardens were still there including the pond, all long abandoned and overgrown. You could see the back of the Lindley Hotel from there.
Not sure where the main entrance would have been, perhaps up Delph Lane or Brandreth Lane off Lancaster Lane?
Those rocks Marlene Finch refers to would have been an old quarry, now Brandreth Park with some very expensive houses down there. With the high rock cliffs all around people used to say they would be well protected a should an atomic bomb drop on Manchester or Liverpool!!!

Comment by: Marlene Finch on 30th December 2023 at 19:50

We were brought up in the Common and The Delph Tea gardens was our playground. At weekends we collected the discarded bottles left by visitors and took them to the tuck shop overlooking the lake to get the pennies back so we could either buy sweets or take the rowing boat round the lake. I used to train my dog on the field there - he was very friendly with Phylis, Mr Shepherds daughter and would race across the field to greet her. I learnt to climb on a rock opposite the tea room (last time I visited it it was covered in ivy and looked somewhat smaller than it did to me as a child. I graduated to climbing up the rock bank behind the tea rooms (there are houses there now). Fortunately mother never witnessed my climbing skills. We
made do with a rope over the bough of a tree for swings. Ours was an idyllic childhood made up of a simpler and more natural entertainment.

Comment by: Colin Ball on 11th March 2024 at 13:56

I used to visit the Tea Gardens and quarry quite a a lot as a boy in the 60's and 70's. The old stone house had an old ex army cargo net to climb. Later we used the older, smaller South Quarry as an early mountain bike course. There used to be 'caves' made from massive boulders just off Stony Lane above the North Quarry. I'm told there used to be a motorcycle race track of sorts snaking through the place. The old tea shop was burn't down in the early 70's. Very sad.

Leave a comment?

* Enter the 5 digit code to the right of the input box. Don't worry if you make a mistake, you will get another chance. Your comments won't be lost.